Let’s get one thing out of the way up front. Dave Scott isn’t crazy.

    Neither are the other nearly 300 runners who will take part in the Pocatello 50 Mile Trail Run Saturday. Some of those participants aren’t signed up for the full P50 experience. A few will run and hike 20 miles and some others are in it for the 50 kilometer section.

    Scott, 36, isn’t nuts to tackle the P50 because he’s done it once before, last year. He signed up for it on a whim — an opportunity, a personal dare, to see if he could do it.

    How did Scott get to that point? How did he ever decide that taking part in a race that’s more than 52 miles long (50 just sounds better in the moniker) and features 12,600 feet of elevation gain and descent, was a reasonable idea?

    Well, at least in part, it started with a cute girl on the corner.

    Scott was 23 years old and the cute girl on the corner was a regular runner. So he went for one, too. After two miles he was dead. But he got a date.

    Thirteen years later, Scott is married to that cute girl on the corner. Those two-mile runs in the city are far, far gone though.

Training

    The P50, now in its fifth year, is early enough in the marathon season the runners are forced to deal with freezing temperatures as they train in the snow or, as a last resort, the dreaded treadmill.

    As it warms up in the spring, they stuff in as much work as possible into a short window. Scott, a Pocatello firefighter for 11 years, runs five to six days a week, regularly covering 60 miles.

    With two daughters, it’s about manufacturing the time required to pound out the miles in preparation for what’s to come Saturday.

    “You squeeze it in those times where it has the least impact on your family or your job,” Scott said.    

    Of particular importance is that he runs long distances on back-to-back days. His legs have to grow accustomed to pushing down the trail, even if they’re tired.

    It’s the same sort of training that had Scott powering through the first 32 miles last year, an hour ahead of his targeted pace. Boosted by pure adrenaline, he had felt great.

    But then he smacked into a wall. His body screamed, STOP.

42-mile breakdown

    In the 52.3 mile race there’s never a smooth, relaxing point. Runners are either going up, down or straight up, straight down.

    That’s what makes the P50 particularly arduous, difficult and draining. The massive changes in elevation tortures thighs, hips and ankles.

    The course is split into three legs touring through the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. It begins at the Mink Creek Pavilion, climbs to Gibson Jack before descending down to City Creek in the first leg (16.9 miles).

    The second section curves its way south to the West Fork of Mink Creek (15.6 miles). By the time runners reach the last leg, they’ll have covered 32 and a half miles, ascended and descended over and down two mountains.

    By devious design, the third leg (19.8 miles) is the longest — and steepest.

    There’s a section leaving Valve House Trail that climbs Scout Mountain. It’s 10 miles long, all done on weary legs.

    It’s those 10 miles that broke Scott. He was tired. At the aid station right before the final leg, Scott’s legs started cramping and the unrelenting climb had been the final breaking point.

    So he quit.

    “I remember feeling like I was alone,” Scott said. “I hadn’t seen anybody else for a long, long time.”

    Quitting was fine. For a guy who picked up on trail running to help stay in shape for his day job, reaching the 42-mile mark was an accomplishment. But there was an issue with stopping.

    He was on top of a mountain, miles away from anything.

    And then somebody passed him. He noticed a few people farther down the ridge walking. He wasn’t alone.

    So he got up. Scott started to run again. “I was like, ‘Oh, I can handle this! This is a different pain.’”

Aid-station relief

    Would you ever be able to take the first step of a 50-mile journey if the only thought was how much farther it was until the end?

    Scott never concentrated on the ultimate goal. Instead, he only worried about the next checkpoint, the upcoming aid station, scattered throughout the race. At times the aid stations feel like a gift sent straight down from above.

    “They are fantastic,” Scott said.

    They are momentary stops along the trail but the various aid stations can provide anything from chicken broth, grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cookies and pretzels.

    Want to taste the best broth ever? Run 32 miles in the mountains first.

    The stations can also house a change of clothes and new shoes and socks that feel like slippers as they replace their wet, grimy counterparts.

    But more than anything, the aid station volunteers provide warm smiles and encouragement.

Lesson learned

    Scott was pushed to the edge last year. The P50 is no joke and he doesn’t take the challenge of completing it a second time any lighter than last year.

    “I don’t know if I can do it,” he said. “It’s 50 miles; that’s a long ways.”

    He’s changed his diet, going to a whole-foods, plant-based focus while eliminating meat. His body’s efficiency at burning fat for fuel has kicked up a notch.

    In longer training runs, Scott has found he can power his way through the mountain trails with less fuel than before. He knows his body will bang against another road block. His legs will want to stop. The Pocatello 50 Mile Trail Run will hurt.

    “It’s still an experiment,” he said. “I’ve done it once but I’m by no means setting out going, ‘I know I’m going to finish this. I know I can do it.’ I’m still testing myself.”

    That’s the fun, crazy part of it all.